1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical unit used with plural external devices connected to the main body of the unit. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ultrasonic medical diagnostic unit used with an ultrasonic probe connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic unit main body.
2. Prior Art
Traditionally, a variety of ultrasonic diagnostic units have been proposed. Generally speaking, an ultrasonic diagnostic unit can display ultrasonic tomographic images, two-dimensional visible ones, by repeatedly transmitting an ultrasonic pulse from the ultrasonic probe element to the inside of a living body tissue, and receiving the echo of the ultrasonic pulse via the same or another probe element. Those ultrasonic diagnostic images are used for diagnosis of diseases, for example.
For those ultrasonic diagnostic units, an external ultrasonic probe is typically used. However, an internal ultrasonic probe is also used with an endoscope. The internal ultrasonic probe has an elongated insertion section which can be introduced into a body cavity through an endoscope forceps insertion channel, for example. With such an endoscope system, ultrasonic tomographic images of the subject region including a lesion such as a cancerous mucosal tissue or polyp can be viewed through the endoscope.
In recent years, a variety of ultrasonic probes for three-dimensional scanning have been proposed to obtain three-dimensional images. With such an ultrasonic probe for three-dimensional scanning, the shape of a tumor on the subject can be understood, and its volume can be measured.
In this way, various ultrasonic probes can be used for ultrasonic diagnosis. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication 5-245140 discloses an ultrasonic diagnostic unit by which plural ultrasonic probes can be controlled. This ultrasonic diagnostic unit has a case with which ultrasonic probe elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves are covered, and on which a grip section is arranged to be gripped by a hand. On the grip section, a sensor is attached to transmit a signal when it is gripped. Through the output of the sensor, the selected ultrasonic probe element can be recognized. And, operation conditions can be automatically switched on the side of the main body of the ultrasonic diagnostic unit according to the specifications of the selected ultrasonic probe element. Such a configuration allows the diagnostician to reduce wasteful actions and to increase the efficiency of diagnosis without manipulating the main body of the ultrasonic diagnostic unit.
However, the ultrasonic diagnostic unit disclosed in the above-mentioned 5-245140 publication must be configured in such a way that plural ultrasonic search elements can be connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic unit main body. In addition, the surgeon must select an ultrasonic search element for his or her diagnostic purpose. As a result, the ultrasonic diagnostic unit main body must be large enough to accommodate such plural ultrasonic search elements.
On the other hand, there also exist small-sized or medium-sized ultrasonic diagnostic units in which only a single ultrasonic probe can be connected to the main body. In order to use such an ultrasonic diagnostic unit with various ultrasonic probes, it is necessary to connect the connector of each of them to the ultrasonic diagnostic unit main body each time. Since in many cases, the connector is connected in an inconvenient place, for example, the reverse side of the ultrasonic diagnostic unit, or a lower place at the feet, it is troublesome to replace it.